Shipping in Malaysia

1. Malaysia’s exports and imports continued to register a double digit growth in May 2010, year-on-year. Exports surged by 21.9% to RM52.3 billion, while imports soared by 34.2% to RM44.2 billion. As compared with April 2010, both exports and imports posted a marginal increase of 0.5% and 3.3% from RM52.0 billion and RM42.8 billion respectively.

2. Based on product classification, the 21.9% growth (RM9.4 billion) in exports was attributed mainly to higher exports of electrical & electronic products (E&E); petroleum, petroleum products & related materials; gas, natural and manufactured; professional, scientific and controlling instruments and apparatus and crude rubber (including synthetic and reclaimed) which contributed 73.4% or RM6.9 billion of total increase, year-on-year.

3. For imports, the 34.2% growth (RM11.2 billion) was contributed chiefly by larger imports of E&E products; petroleum, petroleum products & related materials; non-ferrous metals; iron and steel; other transport equipment and metalliferous ores and metal scrap which accounted for 70.5% or RM7.9 billion of total increase, year-on-year.

4. Malaysia’s growth in exports was contributed mainly by higher exports to Japan, People’s Republic of China, Australia, Thailand, Republic of Singapore, European Union (EU) and Republic of Korea which amounted to RM6.9 billion (73.4%) of total increase, year on year.

5. Total trade in May 2010 was valued at RM96.4 billion, recorded a positive growth of 27.2% as compared with a year ago. On a month-on-month basis, total trade also grew by 1.8% or RM1.7 billion.

6. Malaysia’s external trade registered a surplus of RM8.1 billion in May 2010. This was the 151st consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997. However, the trade surplus showed a drop of 18.7% from RM10.0 billion recorded in the same month of 2009. Compared with April 2010, it also posted a decrease of 12.1%.

7. E&E products continued to be the top export revenue earner accounted for RM20.1 billion or 38.4% of total exports. Exports of E&E products increased by RM2.3 billion (12.8%) over the corresponding month of last year. However, compared with a month ago, it registered a decrease of RM588.4 million (-2.8%).

8. Palm oil & palm oil-based products remained as the second largest export revenue earner, which contributed RM4.7 billion or 8.9% to total exports in May 2010. Exports of palm oil, the major commodity in this group of products, rose notably by 15.9% to RM3.4 billion, year-on-year. This was a result of increase in both export volume and average unit value which grew by 13.2% to 1.3 million tonnes and 2.3% to RM2,585 per tonne. On a month-on-month basis, exports of palm oil up slightly by 1.3% which was due to marginal increase in both average unit value (+0.8%) and exports volume (+0.5%).

9. Liquefied natural gas (LNG), ranked as the third export earner which accounted for 6.24% or RM3.3 billion of total exports in May 2010. Total exports of LNG edged up by 92.0% from RM1.7 billion, year-on-year. This was due to increased in average unit value of 55.2% to RM1,716 per tonne, and exports volume by 23.7% to 1.9 million tonnes. On a month-on-month basis, it expanded by 26.2% which was due to rise in exports volume of 28.5% from 1.5 million tonnes in spite of a decline in average unit value of 1.8% from RM1,747 per tonne.

10. Crude petroleum, the fourth largest export commodity, made up RM3.2 billion or 6.17% of total exports, leaped by 72.8%, year on year. This growth was contributed by both average unit value and exports volume which increased by 52.0% to RM1,917 per tonne and 13.7% to 1.7 million tonnes respectively. Compared with April 2010, it rose by 19.4% as a result of expansion in exports volume of 19.6% while average unit value dropped marginally by 0.2%.

11. Petroleum products, the fifth largest export commodity, which was valued at RM2.0 billion or 3.9% of total exports, soared by 51.6% year-on-year, and registered a growth of 23.5%, month-on-month.

12. Timber & timber-based products, the sixth largest export earner, amounted to RM1.6 billion or 3.1% of total exports. Exports value of this product rose by 2.5% from RM1.6 billion as compared with the corresponding month of 2009. However, compared with previous month, it recorded a dip of 9.7% from RM1.8 billion.

13. Imports of intermediate goods, constituted 69.6% of total imports, expanded by 35.8% to RM30.7 billion, year-on-year. Compared with the previous month, it increased by 5.0% from RM29.3 billion.

II. JANUARY – MAY 2010

A. TRADE

14. During the period under study, total exports and total imports surged by 28.0% to RM263.0 billion and 33.1% to RM206.7 billion respectively, as compared with a year ago. This resulted in a trade surplus of RM56.3 billion, an increase of RM6.2 billion (12.4%) as against RM50.1 billion in January – May 2009. Malaysia’s total trade was valued at RM469.7 billion, a growth of 30.2% from the same corresponding period of 2009.

B. EXPORTS

15. E&E products, which accounted for 39.0% (RM102.5 billion) of total exports during the first five months in 2010, remained as Malaysia’s leading export earner. Exports revenue from this category of products increased by RM22.4 billion or 28.0% from a year ago. The major component, namely electronic integrated circuits, which accounted for RM28.2 billion or 27.5% of total exports of E&E products, also recorded a growth of 18.1% from previous year.

16. Palm oil & palm oil-based products, continued as the second largest export revenue earner with a total combined value of RM24.4 billion or 9.3% to total exports. Exports of palm oil, the major commodity in this group, posted a growth of 32.0% to RM18.0 billion. This expansion was attributed to higher in both average unit value and exports volume, which grew by 21.9% to RM2,564 per tonne and 8.2% to 7.0 million tonnes respectively.

17. LNG, which made up 6.0% of total exports, remained as the third largest export commodity. Total exports of LNG rose by 4.0% to RM15.9 billion from a year ago. This was due to increases in both exports volume of 3.6% to 9.8 million tonnes and average unit value of 0.4% to RM1,624 per tonne.

18. Crude petroleum, the fourth largest commodity which accounted for 5.6% of total exports, surged by RM6.3 billion or 74.8% to RM14.8 billion during the period under review. This was mainly attributed to the rise in both average unit value of 59.1% to RM1,908 per tonne and exports volume of 9.9% to 7.8 million tonnes.

19. Petroleum products, the fifth largest export commodity valued at RM8.8 billion or 3.4% of total exports, leaped by 36.1% from RM6.5 billion during the period of January – May 2010.

20. Timber & timber-based products, the sixth largest export earner amounted to RM8.5 billion or 3.2% of total exports, rose by RM1.3 billion over the same corresponding period of last year.

C. IMPORTS

21. The values of major import products were as below:-

a. machinery and transport equipment (RM102.8 billion or 49.7% of total imports);

b. manufactured goods and articles (RM37.8 billion or 18.3% of total imports);

c. chemicals (RM19.9 billion or 9.6% of total imports);

d. mineral fuels, lubricants, etc., (RM19.0 billion or 9.2% of total imports); and

e. food (RM12.0 billion or 5.8% of total imports).

22. The compositions of imports by end-use for the three major categories were as follows:-

23. Comparatively, the above items recorded the following changes in value over the same period in 2009 as shown below:-

D. DIRECTION OF TRADE

24. Malaysia’s top ten export destinations were the Republic of Singapore, the People’s Republic of China, European Union (EU), Japan, the United States of America, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Australia and India. These countries accounted for RM206.1 billion or 78.3% of Malaysia’s total exports in the first five months of 2010.

25. The top ten import sources of Malaysia were the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of Singapore, the United States of America, European Union (EU), Thailand, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The imports from these countries amounted to RM171.4 billion or 82.9% of Malaysia’s total imports.

26. Malaysia’s top ten trading partners were the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Singapore, Japan, European Union (EU), the United States of America, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These countries collectively contributed 79.8% (RM374.8 billion) of Malaysia’s total trade.

27. Exports to North East Asia was valued at RM91.8 billion or 34.9% of total exports in the period of January – May 2010, soared by 34.5% from RM68.3 billion compared with corresponding period last year. The growth of 34.5% or RM23.6 billion was mainly contributed by higher exports to the People’s Republic of China (RM11.2 billion), Japan (RM5.1 billion) and Hong Kong (RM3.2 billion).

28. Malaysia’s exports to ASEAN contributed RM68.7 billion (26.1%) in the first five months of 2010. It posted an increase of 32.0% from RM52.1 billion, year-on-year. The increase of RM16.6 billion (32.0%) was mainly attributed by higher exports to the Republic of Singapore (RM6.5 billion), Thailand (RM4.9 billion) and the Viet Nam (RM2.1 billion).

29. Exports to the European Union (EU) accounted for RM27.9 billion (10.6%) from total exports in January-May 2010. It rose by 25.8% from RM22.2 billion as against the same reference period of 2009. For this region, the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany recorded a significant increase of RM2.2 billion and RM1.7 billion respectively.

30. Exports to North America amounted to RM26.6 billion or 10.1% to total exports, an increase of 9.3% or RM2.3 billion in the first five months of 2010. The growth was mainly due to higher exports to the United States of America (RM1.9 billion) and Canada (RM345.8 million).

Source: Dept of Stats Malaysia